On April 11, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and San­lih Television held a press conference announcing a plan to export popular idol drama The Fierce Wife to Latin America. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Shih, senior vice president of San­lih Television ­Chang ­Cheng-fen, and envoys from several Spanish-speaking countries joined the show’s four leads James Wen, Sonia Sui, Chris Wang, and Amanda Chu in attendance, all expressing their high expectations for this first effort to promote quality Taiwanese television in Latin America.

At the press conference, Shih noted that this is the first time MOFA has chosen to use idol dramas as a form of international diplomacy. The entire series has been dubbed into Spanish, a monumental task, and a total of ten stations in eight countries—Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Paraguay, Chile, Ecuador, and Argentina—are set to broadcast it. Of these partners, Nicaragua has been particularly enthusiastic, and plans to premiere the show in late April.

Since the plan’s initial formulation in September 2013, MOFA has invested a great deal of time and effort into realizing it. First, they consulted with ROC embassies and missions in countries across Latin America to gain an understanding of local people’s TV preferences. Armed with this knowledge, MOFA went through over 100 of Taiwan’s top TV series, selecting ten, which were submitted to experts on Latin America and people from the region’s TV industry for evaluation. Ultimately, the most popular series was The Fierce Wife, so over the next six months the series was translated and dubbed into Spanish, with the title La Esposa Valiente. From start to finish, the process took more than a year and a half.

The reason for choosing a well-known Taiwanese idol drama, Shih explains, is to hopefully deepen bilateral ties between Taiwan and these nations through cultural exchange, as the ROC government deeply values friendly relations with Latin America.

An additional consideration was that the 18 countries of Latin America are a large part of the 400-million-strong global Spanish-speaking population. Latin American countries have enjoyed rapid economic development in recent years, and their cultural and spending power cannot be ignored. As such, this is a worthwhile market for Taiwanese film and television to consider. Shih stressed that the government hopes this new approach to exchange will help open up new possibilities and new markets for Taiwanese idol dramas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs works with its embassies and missions every year to hold Taiwanese film festivals and photography exhibitions, as well as selecting outstanding cultural groups for overseas tours. By using this variety of approaches, it is hoped that Taiwan will be able to build a reputation internationally for its cultural products.

The Fierce Wife features an outstanding cast and excellent acting, as well as a plot that captured the pulse of Taiwanese society; as a result, it achieved record high ratings of 9.45, meaning roughly 1.8 million Taiwanese tuned in. San­lih TV president ­Chang ­Cheng-fen thanked MOFA for their efforts, saying: “This is a big step for Taiwan and something the people of Taiwan should be proud of. San­lih is honored to be part of it.”

So far, rights to the show have been sold to 30 countries around the world. At the press conference a highlights package of the Spanish version of the show was screened.Sonia Sui’s character was heard saying tearfully to her co-star James Wen’s, “We can’t go back to how it was before.”

Wen himself commented, after revisiting the show, “Emotion crosses all language barriers. I hope that our acting will move overseas audiences, and that this will help Taiwan’s soft power be more visible worldwide.”

Sui also thanked MOFA for their hard work, saying, “I have always felt that Taiwan’s dramas are tremendously strong, and it’s an honor for us to be involved in this.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes that this project will help people in the Spanish-speaking world better understand Taiwanese society and culture, and even come to love Taiwan. This project could also open the door to further opportunities to export Taiwanese popular culture to the Spanish-speaking world.

Shih stated, “This is the first series we’re doing this for, but it won’t be the last. We hope to continue getting more outstanding Taiwanese idol dramas into markets around the world.”

Popular culture is an important component of Taiwan’s soft power, and an effective part of efforts to promote cultural diplomacy. Shown here, a promotional photo for The Fierce Wife.

The main cast of The Fierce Wife joined representatives from Taiwan's diplomatic allies in Latin America at a press conference, where they thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its support of Taiwanese drama. In this photo, the lead actors are shown with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Shih